I can’t lie, probably the most exciting part of attending this year’s National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) Conference was that I attended as a member of the press for the first time. And it was my very first press pass experience. For me, it was a great reminder of just how passionate the people in this industry are towards both pleasure and professional boating.
If you are unfamiliar with NMEA, they are an organization of manufacturers, dealers, distributors, boat builders, trade associates, and sales representatives that help develop technical standards for marine industry electronics. As an ANSI approved standards developer, they establish standards to help keep manufacturers, installers, and users on course in an ever changing technological landscape. As new and old systems combine and interface (and then somehow sync with your iPhone) the people at NMEA are behind the details of how these devices operate and communicate.
Click past the jump break to see some of the products I found at this year’s exhibits.
